Collins Dictionary unveils shortlist for Word of the Year

MOLGLASGOW -2013 has seen the words twerking, selfie, fracking and bitcoin all enter our vocabulary but they were all beaten by geek which was named Word of the Year. Collins Dictionary unveiled its shortlist of words that were in the running to be named the top word of the last 12 months. Geek was crowned the winner because although it origins in the 19th century mean it is not technically a new word, the editors behind Collins Dictionary say its meaning has changed to mean something positive. Ian Brookes, consultant editor, told the Times: 'It has most recently changed from describing someone preoccupied with computing to someone who is passionate about any field of expertise.' He said he believed the more positive definition of the word was something worth celebrating. Bitcoin, the name for the untraceable online currency which has seen a meteoric jump in value this year, missed out on the top spot. Miley Cyrus helped make the word twerking recognisable this year and phablet, the name for a handheld computer smaller than a tablet but bigger than a phone, also didn't make the cut. Other considerations were Plebgate, coined after the controversy involving Andrew Mitchell and Downing Street police officers, and the Harlem Shake, the name of a dance craze from 2013. One of the more obscure words was olingiuto - the name for a type of raccoon. It was the first new species of herbivore discovered in the western hemisphere for 35 years when it was found in the forests of Columbia and Ecuador this year. Although these words have been accepted into Collins online dictionary, they may not make it in the print version.